Posts by Axel

What do you mean WHY is Sony PS4 so pricey in Oz?

Re: We get hammered with this all the time in Canada

Ummm... what makes you think there's no duty to be paid for goods crossing from the US to Canada?

Not all types of good require duty, but some do.

http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/

On top of that there are additional costs caused by doing business in Canada.

Some goods need certification by Canadian authorities to be legally sold here, etc., etc.

And not just Federally, some of that is Province by Province and selling to just some Provinces creates its own headaches.

And, of course, that entails translating all documentation into French - and being able to support French customers. If a company has to do that, then they need to have a French call centre. US customers won't get burdened by that cost, but it is spread across English & French Canadian customers because they can't charge French speaking customers more.

And there's more...

Most of these costs are fixed rather than marginal costs, so they are spread across a 30mm customer market rather than a 300mm market.

Tech giants' offshore cash-stashing is only ever a delaying tactic

Re: ?

The thing is that they never need to repatriate the cash.

Apple, for example, didn't issue a dividend from 1995 to 2012.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/19/technology/apple-dividend/index.htm

That's not a problem for investors, because they also make money from stock market price increases.

If Apple has a pile of money sitting off-shore, that's an asset so it increases the value of the stock.

If Apple uses the money to buy stuff, IP or other companies outside the US, that also increases the value of the stock.

An investor can realize that value by either selling stock or by using the value of the stock as security for a loan (which they will get at a very low rate of interest) which they can use to invest elsewhere or spend).

And, as has been pointed out, corporations know that if they sit on a big pile of cash for long enough they can blackmail the US Government into letting them repatriate the cash at a hugely deducted tax rate (less than 10% instead of 35%). So they just wait for a decade...

Review: Samsung Galaxy S4

It's not 580 for a phone, it's 580 for a tiny PC, that can do phone stuff too.

Killers laugh in face of death penalty threat, say US experts

Re: I'm reminded of the Life of Brian "Jehovah" sketch

The really important benefit of sticking someone in jail for the rest of their natural life rather than executing them is that when a person (e.g. you) is wrongfully convicted (remember the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad) they can be released rather than being dead.

iPlayer repeat fees threaten BBC earthquake

Re: Because of the unique way the BBC is funded.....

Currently iPlayer doesn't work for me because I'm not in the UK.

I'd be happy to pay to watch some programmes.

(An ex-pat living in Canada).

Stop snubbing top scientists' advice, Lords tell MPs

Re: The alternative to actually working

It is a treatment.

An ineffective treatment to be precise.

Beeb flogs Doctor Who episodes via Facebook

Re: Been wondering lately...

UK residents can watch loads of BBC programs on-line through the BBC i-Player for no extra cost.

This arrrangement with FB is for non-residents who don't get to use the i-Player.

Nokia: When pigeons fly home to roast

Ever heard of the Internet?

It's a great place for fact checking.

Here's a few fun facts you could have found with the help of a simple search engine:

200 million people speak Brazilian Portuguese as a first language.

150 million speak Russian as a first language.

130 million people speak Japanese as a first language.

375 million people speak English as a first language.

150 milllion + 130 million = 280 million which is less than 375 million.

HTH HAND

Traffic-light plague sweeps UK: Safety culture strangles Blighty

You forget about all the other costs motorists create

VED revenue in 2004/2005, for example, was £4.7bn

Revenue from fuel duty in 2004/05 was £23bn.

Total expenditure on road building and maintenance in England in the same period was £6bn.

The economic cost of road accidents, for example, was estimated in 2004 to be some £18bn per year (DfT 2004, 5) and the cost to the British economy of road traffic congestion was estimated to be £20bn, rising to £30bn by 2010.

Maddison, Pearce et al in The True Costs of Road Transport estimated the cost of air pollution from road transport at £19.7 billion per year

Revenue = £27.7bn

Costs = £63.7bn

So, motorists are subsidized from other revenues by £36bn per year.

http://www.jake-v.co.uk/content/54.php

That's not true.

The Court of Appeal ruled in 1980 that anyone pushing a bicycle is a "foot-passenger" (Crank v Brooks [1980] RTR 441) and is not "riding" it (Selby).

http://www.bikeforall.net/content/cycling_and_the_law.php

In his judgment in the Court of Appeal in Crank v Brooks, Waller LJ said: "In my judgment a person who is walking across a pedestrian crossing pushing a bicycle, having started on the pavement on one side on her feet and not on the bicycle, and going across pushing the bicycle with both feet on the ground so to speak is clearly a 'foot passenger'. If for example she had been using it as a scooter by having one foot on the pedal and pushing herself along, she would not have been a 'foot passenger'. But the fact that she had the bicycle in her hand and was walking does not create any difference from a case where she is walking without a bicycle in her hand."

Pushing a bike on a footway or footpath is legal

That prosecutor was misinformed. The Court of Appeal ruled in 1980 that anyone pushing a bicycle is a "foot-passenger" (Crank v Brooks [1980] RTR 441) and is not "riding" it (Selby).

http://www.bikeforall.net/content/cycling_and_the_law.php

In his judgment in the Court of Appeal in Crank v Brooks, Waller LJ said: "In my judgment a person who is walking across a pedestrian crossing pushing a bicycle, having started on the pavement on one side on her feet and not on the bicycle, and going across pushing the bicycle with both feet on the ground so to speak is clearly a 'foot passenger'. If for example she had been using it as a scooter by having one foot on the pedal and pushing herself along, she would not have been a 'foot passenger'. But the fact that she had the bicycle in her hand and was walking does not create any difference from a case where she is walking without a bicycle in her hand."

Microsoft disputes Apple's 'App Store' trademark

1990 early enough

'App' was in common usage way before 'Web' or 'Internet' were. Finding an old reference online could be a bit tricky, but here's an article from 1990.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=rFAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT91&lpg=PT91&dq=%22killer+app%22+dos&source=bl&ots=95hxw4m418&sig=7YCEbS1PmHS0cj41ZEOZx6OR9po&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22killer%20app%22%20dos&f=false

Vista-hating Microsoft throws poo at Apple's iPhone 4

Apple learned from the master

Bill Gates pointed that out years ago.

http://www.cantrip.org/nobugs.html?seenIEPage=1